Artist <a href="http://www.iri5.com" target="_blank">Erika Iris Simmons</a>, also known as iri5, makes incredible portraits from archaic VHS and <a href="http://inhabitat.com/nostalgic-mixtape-table-is-made-from-reclaimed-wood/" target="_blank">audio cassettes</a>! Inspired by the music that the tapes once contained, the artist spins the shiny black coils into fine brush strokes, outlining some of her favorite musicians and film stars in <a href="http://inhabitat.com/ackroyd-harvey-create-large-scale-portraits-out-of-living-grass/" target="_blank">gorgeous portraits</a>. Icons like Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Jerry Garcia are immortalized in the very medium that helped share their music before mp3s and online streaming became the listening methods of choice.

Her gorgeous cassette and VHS tape portraits fuse meaning with medium. Each piece depicts one of music’s most inspirational legends that have gone on to influence generations to come. More importantly, their eyes, lips and hair are “drawn” with the glistening fragile <a href="http://inhabitat.com/cassette-chair-is-recycled-seating-you-can-really-groove-to/" target="_blank">tapes of yesteryear</a>.

The hem of Lenny Kravitz’ shirt zig zags out of the top of a cassette, its lines joining together to form the singer’s sunglasses and curly hair. Film reels become shadow profiles of Audrey Hepburn in her Breakfast at Tiffany’s days, and Alfred Hitchcock’s recognizable pout emerges from a spool of celluloid.

As you can see in the above portrait of Jimi Hendrix, ribbons that once bore music and movies are transformed into hair, lips and bodies, all still connected to their respective <a href="http://inhabitat.com/massive-closet-recycled-from-918-analog-cassette-tapes/" target="_blank">cassette casing</a>, giving viewers a nostalgic memory of the now obsolete listening devices of their childhoods.

Artist Erika Iris Simmons, also known as iri5, makes incredible portraits from archaic VHS and audio cassettes! Inspired by the music that the tapes once contained, the artist spins the shiny black coils into fine brush strokes, outlining some of her favorite musicians and film stars in gorgeous portraits. Icons like Bob Dylan, John Lennon, and Jerry Garcia are immortalized in the very medium that helped share their music before mp3s and online streaming became the listening methods of choice.